Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/07/02/the-gopure-pod-water-purifier.html
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Boy these little pod things have some kind of hold on Google…it’s impossible to find anything other than ads for them, or articles that read like ads.
It’s like having a whole internet of BoingBoingStore
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GOPure? That doesn’t sound right.
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Oh boy, diatomaceous earth and trace silver?
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“are being embraced by health-conscious men and women everywhere”
“revolutionary technology inside”
And that tie-in with Covid? Great job Mr. Bernays!
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When I first glanced at the headline, I thought “OK, this is too much. How could water purification possibly be turned into a partisan issue?”
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GOP urine?
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This smacks of woo to a degree unexpected 'round these parts.
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This revolutionary technology has been in use for centuries, though the implementation in capsule form is perhaps novel.
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The construction makes it impossible for it purify water that is actually contaminated. This is not safe if you need water from a source that may have Giardia or other parasites.
Might make your tap water taste better though, that’s completely possible. Not sure if it does, but I’m optimistic.
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Came here expecting a new Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon. Leaving disappointed.
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Totally ineffective against viruses, although the thing might adsorb some chemical contaminants. (Activated charcoal would be more effective!)
What you want if you’re worried about viral contamination is an oxidant. Despite the jokes about drinking bleach, chlorine dioxide is a pretty effective disinfectant. In the field, if I might need to drink surface water, I carry two dropping bottles, with solutions of sodium chlorite and phosphoric acid. 350 microlitres of each, dripped into a bottle cap; let react for 7 minutes, add to a litre of water, allow 20 minutes contact time (longer if protozoal contamination is suspected or the water is very cold). If the water is very dodgy, and it’s not deep winter, I might do microfiltration first. Since I don’t hike in an area where polio or Ebola are endemic, the nastiest waterborne virus I’m likely to get is norovirus, so with what looks like a high-quality water source, I might use filtration alone, which is five-nines effective against bacteria and protozoa (although zero efficacy against viruses).
But BoingBoing Store items don’t have to be effective, now, do they? 
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sheesh - this is how we did it in Boy Scouts. Iodine tablets. Tastes bad but it works. Kills the nasty bugs.
For the really gross water (like downstream from a cow pasture) we’d use this with the charcoal filters
For belt and suspenders approach we’d use both
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Oh, boy. Reminds me of the Onion article https://www.theonion.com/revolutionary-new-insoles-combine-five-forms-of-pseudos-1819565103
But seriously? “Acts like a magnet”? No, it doesn’t “attract” anything. Not even with diatomaceous earth! Which is, of course, excellent filtration material and good for deworming your pets.
Iodine is ineffective against Cryptosporidium and borderline against Giardia. That’s why I mentioned chlorine dioxide. Aqua Mira is one brand that’s widely available in the US. It’s also relatively tasteless. (You can kill the taste of iodine with vitamin C, by the way, but you have to wait the entire contact time before you do so, since it also kills the effectiveness.)
Even chlorine dioxide isn’t great against protozoa, which is why a two-ounce microfilter like the Sawyer Mini is a good backup. I certainly use filtration any time I’m drinking from a source that might be downstream from beavers, to say nothing of human habitation.
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I use 1/3 cup of bleach (8.25% sodium hypochlorite) in my 250 gallon water tower. Even then I don’t drink it as Giardia can still be present. My creek definitely has it because my neighbor got pretty sick from it a few years ago.
Have you tried injecting your bleach to kill the parasites? As recommended by the very top!
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